Dungeon 102 Chapter 3 (Patreon)

My party was all back at the visitor’s center, hanging out in the kitchen as we talked. At first Headmistress Marlow hadn’t allowed me in the dorms at all, still she wasn’t going to let me sleep there.

Instead, I was here living with Crimson and the Elven ambassador.

The kitchen looked more like something you’d expect in a mansion or a fancy hotel given it was meant to serve far more than just a few people.

“Let’s think this through.” Des sat at the massive island in the kitchen. We only had a few hours to regroup before we went to the gym for the campout exercise.

“Location is the first thing we should decide on.” I rubbed at my chin. “The forest area of the gym is going to be the easiest for setting alarms and traps. The trees and bushes will make it too easy.”

Fayeth was humming to herself and hunting through the kitchen cabinet for ingredients. Whenever she found something she wanted, she let out a little excited chirp and stuffed it into her CID for later.

“Won’t that be the first place all the other parties look?” Harley asked.

For once, Harley had a point that was relevant to the conversation.

“We have to weigh which is more important.” I replied. “We can pick somewhere less populated where we may not be attacked as frequently, but we’ll have weaker defenses. Or we can set up strong defenses and be prepared to defend ourselves even more.”

Charlotte was petting Bun-bun while perched on a stool. “Are we going to play offense or defense? There’s no punishment if we get through with just our flag.”

“No. We will go for a win.” Des’s red eyes gleamed. She wasn’t one to settle for mediocre. “Besides, Crimson will find some way to punish our man if he does something like that.”

They all grumbled, knowing it was true. Crimson was determined to push me. Doing something like trying to take the safe way through this exercise was a sure fire way to have her make up an excuse to punish me in the form of more training.

And so far, I was all the better for her grueling training, but I’d much rather chase after whatever prize we’d win from this.

I came to the academy to become the best adventurer, to delve deep into the dungeon like my parents and grandparents once had. Crimson was arguably the best adventurer alive. I couldn’t get a better trainer.

And we now knew my class, the Emperor class as the elves translated it. Apparently it came out at times when turbulence was coming.

At least, that’s what the last Emperor meant to the elves, and their current Emperor was meant to help them through the Naga. Fayeth’s father was trying to dig up more information on the history of their first Emperor. It was the only information I’d get about my future class abilities.

“Earth to Ken.” Harley waved a hand in front of my face.

“Hmm?” I jerked to attention. “Sorry, my mind wandered off.” I still had a lot I needed to figure out.

Des knew that and gave me a sympathetic smile. “We are tied. Two for the forest, and two for a corner of the gym.”

“Forest.” I agreed quickly. “That way our offense can get out and back quicker. And we’ll have more people near us. Hopefully we can score some easy points.”

Des nodded at my logic. “Makes sense. How many on offense and defense?”

“This is full combat, right? They’ll have healers on site, so we’ll have to have Charlotte with the defenders or we could get worn down. That means at a minimum, we need one damage dealer too.” I thought aloud.

Des smirked. “Let’s not pretend you won’t be our offense. So that leaves Charlotte and I on defense. We should have Fayeth too. I could put up a struggle against a fighter, but it would be a hell of a lot safer with Fayeth.”

“Not to mention we are going to need to be better protected with our chosen location.” Charlotte pointed out. “So, then that just leaves Harley.”

I took one look at the clumsy bard. “Nope. I’ll be better alone.”

“Hey!” Harley protested.

But Des’s chopped the top of her head. “Hush. You are on defense. Let’s be honest, you need your flute to do much of your magic. That doesn’t exactly lend to stealth.”

“I could be stealthy if I wanted to be stealthy.” Harley mumbled to herself as she rubbed her head. “So, Ken is all out on his lonesome and the four of us get to have a girls night.”

“Not quite.” I sighed. “I need to sleep too.”

Glancing at Des, we agreed in an instant.

“I’ll keep watch first thing in the night.” Des nodded. “Give Ken time to rest and then we’ll trade so he can go out and hunt for flags.” Though, this was all just a loose planning phase. Who knew what the actual situation would be.

“Once I have some, I’ll return and try to get some rest while helping defend at the very end of the night too.” I finished out the plan.

Harley threw her hands up in the air. “We aren’t going to get any sleep tonight are we?”

“Fifteen total parties.” Fayeth pointed out. “Even if they all attack twice, that’s twenty-eight attacks. Say maybe five minutes tops. That’s a little over two hours total of fighting.”

“Getting back to sleep is probably the hard part.” Desmonda pointed out. “Your adrenaline will be pumping. It’ll take twenty or so minutes to calm down.”

“We are being attacked far more than we ever would in real life.” I reminded them, but then another thought occurred to me. “We could really hurt some of these teams if we jingled their alarms repeatedly.”

“Now you are getting devious.” Des smiled. “Let’s try and nap on the couch here to prepare. That’s probably about the best thing we can do.”

I glanced over at the couch and Harley got up.

“I’m going to go sleep in your room. You four are going to get rowdy.” She tossed her pink ponytail as she moved and marched upstairs without even asking permission.

Shrugging, I led the other three over the couch where we had no issue piling into the corner and snuggling.

Well, I had no issue.

Des and Fayeth snuggled in close on either side of me and Charlotte hesitated, blushing heavily. In the end she took the center spot, laying directly on me.

Only then did I appreciate just how soft Charlotte’s curves were as we drifted off to sleep.

***

“Wake up.” Des pinched Fayeth’s cheek.

“Not now.” Fayeth mumbled. She swatted Des away as she rolled over, curling into me further and squeezing me.

The warlock looked to me for help.

I shrugged and stood up. Fayeth came with me given she was clinging to me. But as I moved gravity did its job and she fell off me and back onto the couch.

“Huh?” She perked up now that she wasn’t snuggling me.

Harley laughed. “Just take Ken away and she wakes up. So fucking cute.” She held her cheeks and watched the elf.

Our tank rubbed at her eyes and scowled at the bard. “It’s too early for this.”

“It’s actually late.” Charlotte reminded her. “We have the exercise.”

The reminder made Fayeth shoot up to her feet. “Right. The one we are going to win and make Crimson give us something nice.”

I tapped my chin. “She hasn’t given us anything for winning in the classroom.” I wondered what she’d have up her sleeves.

Des shooed us forward. “Come on. We need to get going. The exercise starts in half an hour, and we should do a quick check of the grounds first. Who knows what surprises that demonic teacher of ours has set up.”

Her words spurred me forward and I led the group out of the visitors center at a brisk pace to the gym. It wasn’t far from the visitor’s center. Somehow Haylon’s campus both felt larger than life, yet you could walk from one end to the other in about half an hour.

We weren’t the only group on our way to the gym.

There was a steady stream of ladies walking from the dorms.

I recognized a number of them. The first year class was only 75 students total. Well, it was closer to 70 students at that point, but it had started as 75.

Three had died by my hands, and there were always a few casualties. But five before the end of the first term was close to setting a dark and bloody record for Haylon.

I scanned through the walking students, one standing out to me. She was familiar.

I spotted the priestess from class 2-B, the one whose father was funding the AEF.

She was surrounded by four girls that must've made up her party. I’d killed three of her party members at one point, so clearly she’d found replacements.

I’d been watching her closely the past few months. The upperclassman that had been with her had disappeared back into the dungeon with her own party. At that level Haylon taught class in the dungeon’s safe zones for most of the term.

"It's okay Ken." Fayeth patted my shoulder seeing who I was watching. "I am fine, and they haven't made an attempt on me since the beginning of the term."

"I know, but I doubt it is over. I'm just not that optimistic. When she thinks she has enough strength, she will try again." I watched her move through the group.

But I knew it was unlikely she’d try anything during the exercise. Crimson along with the other teachers were all in the gym, and powerful healers were also on site.

And it was well known that Crimson had killed two students on the first day for attacking another student, Harley. We stepped in and saved her, but Crimson made an example of the two.

One that must have resonated through the campus, because no one even considered it.

The class B priest must have felt my eyes on her, because she turned to look at me with a frown.

I smiled and waved at her, trying to do my best to look friendly.

The rest of her party started to tease her.

“Stop flirting with the ladies.” Charlotte grabbed my arm and hustled us into the gym.

Crimson, Miss Sai and the B class teacher were lined up and waiting.

I frowned, seeing that we wouldn’t get our chance to scout the gym before it all kicked off.

“Line up. Each party single file before us. In five minutes we’ll start.” Crimson called out over the group of students.

“Wait, doesn’t this start in half an hour?” A student from class C raised their hand.

“It pays to be prepared, and that means early.” Miss Sai crossed her arms.

The students from all three classes were united in their grumbling but it suited me just fine.

If we couldn’t go scout, at least we wouldn’t have to wait too long.

“Line up. Fayeth first. Harley, haste her out of the gate. Fayeth, defend a spot along the wall within the forest.” I pointed to a part of the gym.

“Yeah. That’s just by where you practice in the morning.” She nodded to herself and started to stretch to get ready for her run.

I took a few steps back, letting Fayeth and Harley ready themselves.

Charlotte was petting Bun-bun and giving her rabbit instructions. He was big enough he could carry her or another of the ladies. But the rabbit was still a bit small to carry my larger frame.

“Hey. Are you Ken?” A soft voice caused me to turn around.

I was stunned. It was the priest from class B.

Her friends stood behind her, goading her on. She was blushing up a storm. “Do you think you’d like to go out on a date?”

“You’re Eden, right?” I stalled for time. Shit, she must have thought I was interested given I was staring at her. How dense could she be?

She twirled her hair. “Yeah. You know that though. So, the date?” She bit her lip.

I didn’t know what to do.

Thankfully Des wrapped her arm around mine. “Oh. Hon, who’s this? Going after other girls already?” Des acted a little ditsy but made her claim clear.

Eden took a step back. Des could have that effect on people. “Just saying hello. You are Desmonda Renard, right?”

“The one and only. My father casts a big shadow.” She held out her hand. “Forgive me, I don’t know your name.”

“Eden. Eden Gransmen.” She shook Desmonda’s hand.

My girlfriend played it off smoothly. “Gransmen industries?! My father talks about them all the time.”

Eden smiled bigger. “Yes, we work with all the top level adventurers and the upper echelon of the United Guilds.” She puffed herself up a little and turned to me. “Wonderful meeting you. Maybe we can talk more later?”

“For sure.” I smiled.

Her party pulled her back and I could see the gossip already starting.

Des waited for her to get far enough away. “Fucking bitch. She tried to kill us not that long ago.”

“Thirsty chick.” Harley smirked. “Think we can get Ken to do some sort of revenge date?”

“No.” I shot that down in a heartbeat. “Let’s focus. On this.” I would hunt her party in the dungeon another time.

“Don’t worry. Des will chase her away.” Charlotte seemed sure in Desmonda’s ability to scare another woman off.

Fayeth just hummed without a concern up front. She was always so content.

“Get ready.” Crimson reminded us all and raised her whip into the air. “We will not report who stole whose flag, so you will be kept anonymous. Unless of course you are seen.”

Class B’s teacher’s voice rang out. “You’ll have two hours to set up before Crimson will make two whip cracks. That sound means the start of the raiding phase.”

“The winner will get one of the prizes on the sheet given out before, according to how many flags they have. Don’t hold back.” Miss Sai reminded us all.

Even just a few extra flags could mean rare grade gear for us. My eyes shined at the prospect.

Crimson’s arm blurred and the whip cracked high above us in the air. “Begin.”

“Haste.” Harley shouted at Fayeth.

The elf took off like a rocket. Other teams had similar thoughts. Members used Sprint or other movement abilities from the start, shooting ahead of their team.

Charlotte shot forward from the rest of us. She used growth on Bun-bun and the two-hundred pound bunny shot forward with Charlotte on his back to keep up with Fayeth.

The two of them could easily secure a spot.

That left Des, Harley, and I jogging after them.

“Why do we have to run so much?” Harley complained. “Why don’t I have a Bun-bun that can carry me?”

“Because you aren’t nearly as cute as Charlotte.” I shot back.

She gasped. “What? You’d dare question my cuteness?”

“Shut up. Both of you. If you can talk, you can run harder.” Des picked up the pace and shut Harley up as the bard started puffing to keep up with the two of us that had far better stamina stats.

We hit the wooded area and had to slow down as we dodged through the bushes and trees.

It wasn’t hard to find Fayeth and Charlotte, their voices were clear as they argued with somebody.

“We were here first.” Fayeth’s voice rang out as the thin elf stood tall before Regan.

She looked so delicate, and it had made me once question her ability as a tank. But I’d seen her in action. Despite her thin frame, she was a brick wall when she wanted to be.

Regan shouted and threw her hands up as we arrived, shortly followed by Kendra and the rest of Regan’s group.

“Again, you guys can go take another spot.” Kendra grumbled as the leader of their group.

“I got here first.” Fayeth summoned her shield, a magical ability of woven roots that was tougher than steel. She was a Saintess of the Holy Tree. It was a powerful tree in the elven world that sustained and protected the elves in a world with incredibly harsh sunlight.

Eventually, she’d be able to make an entire suit of armor out of the material.

“How about our two parties work together?” I offered, coming into the clearing.

The area was the perfect spot. It was a small open area surrounded by trees except for the wall on one side.

“What?” Kendra frowned as if trying to figure out if I was trying to pull something over on her.

“Crimson never said that two parties couldn’t work together. She even indicated it’s common when diving the dungeon. Why can’t the two of us work together, or at least form a truce and take this area up together?” I suggested.

“My Fieore has the best plans.” Fayethi chipped in.

“Let us talk about it?” Kendra looked at her group and they all communicated silently before taking a step away.

I glanced back at my group. Fayeth wasted no time in erecting a tent and getting started on making a camp, seeming to decide regardless of the other group’s decision it was going to be her space. Charlotte was helping her while Harley got out her trap supplies.

“What’ll change if they agree?” Des asked.

“I’ll take Charlotte on offense with me if they agree to a joint defense. It’ll let me be more aggressive if I have a healer. They won’t take Bonnie.” I glanced at Kendra’s group. Regan was a sharpshooter and probably the best at sneaking around.

I knew that they would send her out with another to support her.

Kendra came back over from their group. “We’ve decided. Truce.” She held out her pinkie finger.

I joined mine to hers. “Truce. Feel free to set up your tent by ours. We’ll send two people on offense and have a joint defense?”

Kendra nodded. “Deal. Now we need to get started. We’ll set traps further out. You can focus on alarms and closer traps. Regan is a pro at traps.”

“Deal.” I nodded along with her.